La Reine [English translation]

We never knew which country she came from,

Nor her age, nor her name

But everyone called her The Queen

Around Ste. Catherine Street and St. Laurent Boulevard

She had been walking around neighborhood for at least ten years, rubbing shoulder with whores and homeless men

But when people heard her accent,

They figured she didn't come from the Lac St-Jean

Every night, she took under her wing

The hobos and the junkies living in the back of alleys,

Just like a guardian angel sent from the skies

And fallen down into the garbage

At night, she made her rounds in her pick-up truck,

Handing out toasts and some coffee

To give a little bit of warmth

To those who've got winter right in their hearts

To the highly sensitive/wounded, she inspired peace

Her mere presence was like a balm on their wounds

Her look was like a lantern

For the castaways in their somber taverns

Every night, she took under her wing

The hobos and the junkies living in the back of alleys,

Just like a guardian angel sent from the skies

And fallen down into the garbage

According to Paulo, some taxi driver,

She fled war to immigrate here

It's been a few decades now,

When they killed her little boy and her husband

And what she found to help her hang on to life

Is taking care of the poor and the impoverished

Instead of forever living in sadness,

She now had hundreds of children

Every night, she took under her wing

The hobos and the junkies living in the back of alleys,

Just like a guardian angel sent from the skies

And fallen down into the garbage

It happened yesterday, in the night of the twelfth

While getting out of her pick-up truck, she felt faint

Close to her home, near the Du Collège subway

They found her dead in a snowbank

We will never know which country she came from,

Nor her age, nor her name

But this morning, people were mourning The Queen

Around Ste. Catherine Street and St. Laurent Boulevard

But at least, she had taken back her wings

To leave for a world a little less cruel

And even though she didn't believe in God,

She must be flying somewhere up there, where the sky is blue

• Artist:Les Cowboys fringants
• Album:La Grand-Messe (2004)